One of the tried-and-true lamentations of a struggling offense is that "they've become a jump shooting team." Maybe it's nothing to lament if you have a couple of insanely good jump-shooters, but for a team that built its stature in the post, it's probably a cause for concern.

Usage Rates:

Professional Basketball Player

05-06

06-07

Elton Brand

24.6

18.3

Sam Cassell

23.8

25.6

Cuttino Mobley

18.0

18.8

Corey Maggette

24.6

23.3

Chris Kaman

15.7

16.2

Quinton Ross

10.8

11.7

Shaun Livingston

15.2

18.1

Vlad vs. TT

15.3

18.2

In a nutshell, usage rate [{[FGA + (FT Att. x 0.44) + (Ast x 0.33) + TO] x 40 x League Pace} divided by (Minutes x Team Pace)] measures a player's level of participation in his team's offense. There are more knowledgeable APBR guys who might take issue with that description, but I think that's a fair assessment of the stat's import.

One of the things that strikes me as odd is the increase in Kaman's usage rate. This tells us that the Clips are finding Kaman when he's on the floor; Chris simply isn't converting his opportunities. "The shots aren't falling" -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- is how Ralph characterized Kaman's nightmare last night, and from watching Chris, that seems to be my impression. It doesn't take a genius to come to that conclusion. I mean, the guy is shooting .375 from the field. John So contends that Kaman merely isn't getting the ball where he likes it and that, too often, he seems to be too far from the basket or too far underneath. The only silver lining? Kaman's turnover rate is down to 14.9 from 16.4. Getting to 12 + change should be Kaman's ultimate goal, but right now landing his shots is the most imperative item on his agenda.

Elton's game UR last night was in the high-18s - around his season average - after a game against NOOCH in which he was the focal point of the offense. I still maintain that in a halfcourt game, Elton and Chris are inextricably linked. Of course, I have absolutely no empirical evidence to support this, but it seems logical that if Elton is drawing double teams on one block, then Chris is going to have more space in which to work on the other. And if Chris isn't on the floor, and Thomas is essentially playing the wing, and the Clips are playing smallball, then EB is going to draw the Prussian army, especially since the team isn't particularly adept from the perimeter. You've watched the games, you tell me: Haven't you noticed that, NOOCH as the exception, teams have been doubling EB off-the-ball as a matter of policy this season?

Other than EB's dropoff and Shaun's tick upward, the usage rates are very consistent with last year's numbers. But until EB gets above 20 and Chris' shots start to fall, I think the Clips are going to be only as efficient as their jump shooting. And we don't want that.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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Comments

I've been a die hard Clipper fan for the past 20 years. Last season was the happiest I've been with the team since the Danny Manning era. My concern now is with Chris Kaman and his obsene lack of production. It looks like he isn't even putting in the hustle when he's in the game. I'm starting to question his work ethic and if he is one of those players who don't care as much after the ink dries on a big contract. He's been quoted as saying a reason is because it's a different team now with more scorers. NO, it isn't. It's the same exact team as last year with the exception of Thomas instead of Vlad. Chris' role hasn't changed. If his play thus far is any indication of his true colors, then the Elgin Baylor needs to trade him before is stock plummets. Chris' play definitely is not worth his 5 year $55 million contract. He better shape up. I'm extremely dissappointed in him right now.

One thing that we need to consider (re: hustle/effort) is that Chris is dealing with a high hamstring pull. I don't want to make excuses, but anyone who has had hamstring issues can attest, it ain't nice. And when your hamstring is the size of a fourth grader, I can imagine it's excruciating.

Kenji - I agree this quote (which I think you are referring to) is a little distressing (from LA Times):

""It's a different team this year," he said. "The scoring is different, there are so many guys who can score now, and there are some things that I'm not used to yet. I'm not making an excuse, I'm just saying that I'm working on some things.""

WTF?

But we're still early in the season, and ADD Kaman is known to be confused easily, and often... so let's give him some time to get 100% physically, and see where his numbers are by All-Star break, k?

It's not just the hamstring. Kaman also hurt his shoulder towards the end of last season, and it prevented him from doing upper body work, shooting, and playing ball over the summer. I think he might have been running and getting his legs in shape, but then he had the hamstring problem.

And when he was dealing with the shoulder problem, the Clips faced the Suns and MD started working with a quick trigger on the small lineup. After missing the preseason, Kaman has an even smaller margin for error. Of course, he managed to foul himself out of the game last night, so he was cutting his own minutes, but still.

My problem is that Kaman simply looks horrible. I thought Okur might take CK outside and hit shots, a la Camby, Nowitzki, and Brad Miller, but Okur was dominating him in everything, which was a disaster since EB had his hands full with Boozer. Kaman made Okur look quick, which is pretty sad. On virtually every play, Kaman was slow, lost, and passive. He made me think that he had lost a step, that his bulky family bodytype was overwhelming all of the hard work. But then he did beat everybody down the floor for his one basket, so what gives?

Okay, the Jazz have a lot to prove, a tough coach, and they're in great early season form. The Clips are not. Kaman is way behind schedule, but the schedule is long.

Kaman is struggling. But give him some time. He's coming off of some injuries, and the start of the season is a ramp-up period. And, maybe most importantly, is that Brand isn't at the top of his game, and that has a direct effect on how open Kaman is, how many boards he can get, how confident he is, etc. Don't underestimate how big a deal Brand's performance can have on Kaman.

It seems like Kaman is wither rushing too much or is just not angling that shot right, because there are so many times where he manages to get a tiny shot off but it just rolls or bounces off the rim. Perhaps more concentration on exactly where he places the ball will help, along with the health of course. And Craig is right: Livy really needs to work on his shooting to be something special.

We were successfull last year because we play inside out.
Get the ball to Brand or Kaveman and when the double team comes then kick it out. Also I would love to see kaveman's average if they let him shoot an average of 15 times a game. He would score 16-18 points to go with 12 rebounds a game. It would help too if they let him play 30-35 minutes, thats not asking too much.

No problem. I think what happened in preseason was not coaching, but Zach on autopilot. He spent all of last season shooting outside shots in part due to pain from his knee surgery (microfracture), and nothing was working for the Blazers so they let him get away with it.

04/11/08 18:54:53

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